


Wingwoman

by Mintaka14



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Endgame Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Gen, Juleka is a Good Sister, Lukanette, very mild salt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-04
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:00:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23994142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mintaka14/pseuds/Mintaka14
Summary: Another day, and Alya has another Plot to help her bestie get Adrien to fall into her arms. What she's missed is that Marinette doesn't seem so thrilled with that plan anymore, and that Juleka is Luka's sister.
Relationships: Juleka Couffaine & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 170
Kudos: 876





	1. The Plot in the Park

**Wingwoman**

**A Miraculous Ladybug fanfiction**

**By Mintaka14**

Juleka knew that Alya was up to something when the reporter tucked her phone back in her pocket and turned back to the girls sprawled over various parts of Marinette’s bedroom.

“Let’s go for a walk,” Alya said with bright and devious innocence, and grabbed Marinette’s hand to haul her out of her chair. “I think we should go to the park.”

Juleka groaned, but when Rose and Mylene got to their feet she followed. Alix was already bouncing on her toes at the top of the steps, and she was the first one to pelt headlong downstairs, anxious to be up and doing something again, while everyone else followed at a safer speed.

“Why do we need to go to the park in such a hurry?” Marinette was asking, and Alya gave an airy shrug, tucking her hand through Marinette’s elbow.

“Oh, I don’t know, it’s such a beautiful day. It seems a waste to spend it indoors. And a little bird told me that Adrien’s got a photoshoot there today,” Alya added in a singsong voice, giving Marinette a meaningful grin.

Juleka sighed. Not this again.

They’d reached the edge of the gardens by the time Juleka was starting to wonder if anyone would notice if she slipped away. There were only so many plots and plans and covert operations that could go wrong before she had to start to wonder if Marinette and Adrien were really meant to be, and even girl solidarity could only take you so far. Luka might be an idiot too dumb to stay out of love with a girl who was chasing someone else, but he was Juleka’s brother and Juleka knew where her loyalties would lie if push came to shove.

Marinette had fallen behind too, and Alya was halfway across the park before she realised that Marinette wasn’t beside her. Alya stopped, spinning around with her hands on her hips.

“Come on, girl. This is your big chance!”

“I really don’t want to,” Marinette tried to say, but Alya waved her off.

“That’s just the nerves talking. But this will be the perfect chance. You can talk to Adrien without Kagami around.”

“I like Kagami,” Marinette insisted, her brow creasing at Alya’s tone. “You just have to get to know her. And Adrien really likes her.”

“You like everyone,” Alya said dismissively. “And so what if he likes her? You’re the one he’s meant to be with. Adrien just doesn’t know what he really wants, but he’s in between shoots now, so you can talk to him and change his mind. Lila said-“

“Lila’s there?” Marinette asked in a flat voice, and Alya gave her a sharp look.

“Not this again, Mari. She’s trying to prove to you that she really isn’t interested in Adrien. She just wants to help.”

“Help like a hole in the head,” Juleka heard Marinette mutter, and she also heard the faint tremble under the words. Juleka fell even further behind, wondering not for the first time if Alya ever stopped to listen to herself, let alone anyone else. This wasn’t the first time the reporter had talked up Marinette’s kindness in one breath and raked her down for not giving Lila a chance in the next.

No one else seemed to notice the way Marinette’s palms were going white where she was digging her nails into her skin, or the way her shallow breaths were starting to come faster. Juleka had dealt with her fair share of anxiety, and this sounded awfully familiar. She came to a dead stop while Alya strode ahead.

“This is stupid,” Juleka said under her breath. She caught Marinette’s eyes through the fall of her hair. “I’m gonna get out of here. Want to come?”

The look that Marinette turned on her was one of panicked relief, and Juleka opened her mouth to tell their friends that they were leaving, but they were too far ahead. They wouldn’t hear. They never did, anyway.

She closed her mouth.

Juleka pivoted on her heel and set off back across the park, taking a turn towards the docks. She wasn’t surprised when Marinette caught up with her and fell into step. Her eyes were unfocused, as if she was concentrating on something, and Juleka stayed silent.

They were halfway back to the Liberty’s dock, and Marinette’s breathing was calmer again, before Juleka voiced something that had been on her mind for a while. It was easier to get out when it was just Marinette.

“You really don’t like Lila, do you?” she asked, but it wasn’t really a question. Marinette froze in the middle of the footpath, her eyes wary.

“Why do you say that?” Marinette asked cautiously. Juleka shrugged.

“You and Rose, you like everyone…” Juleka echoed Alya’s words. “Well, except for Chloe.”

Marinette snorted.

“But you don’t like Lila. So you must have a reason.”

“So it’s something I’ve been wondering. You really don’t like Lila, and I don’t buy that it’s because you’re jealous. You made friends with Kagami, and she’s practically dating Adrien these days.”

“Tell that to Alya,” Marinette muttered bitterly, and hurried to catch up to Juleka again. “You’re the only one who’s even asked me as if you really wanted to know.”

“Luka doesn’t like her,” Juleka said.

Marinette shot her a curious look.

“She came to a Kitty Section practice once when you were busy with something else. Rose brought her. And Luka told me if Lila came back on the boat again then he was leaving.”

They walked in silence a bit further.

“So you don’t like her, and Luka can’t stand her, and that started me wondering about a few things.”

“Then why haven’t you said anything?” Marinette let out of a huff of frustration, and Juleka rolled her eyes.

“Who hears what I say anyway?” she said drily.

“It doesn’t feel like anyone’s listening to me anymore either,” Marinette agreed. “I am so sick of plans and schemes and plots that I don’t even _want_ anymore anyway.”

Well, wasn’t that interesting. Juleka shot Marinette a surreptitious glance, and looked away again before the other girl could catch her at it. Maybe there was hope for her idiot brother after all. They’d certainly spent enough time hanging all over each other at Kitty Section rehearsals lately.

Then Marinette sighed. “And these days, any time I even mention Lila, Alya just shuts me down. She’s got it so fixed in her head that I’m just jealous that she doesn’t even hear anything else. So I’ve given up even trying. Maybe I should have tried harder to talk to Alya about it, but-“

Juleka’s nose wrinkled in empathy. “Alya can be scary.”

“She just wants what’s best for me,” Marinette said dubiously.

“That’s when she’s even scarier.”

Marinette suppressed an involuntary giggle, and Juleka grinned.

They’d reached the Liberty, and Juleka clumped her way across the gangplank with Marinette behind her. From below deck, she could hear the soft strains of guitar chords, which meant that Luka was home.

Luka looked up, the teal edges of his dark hair falling across his eyes, as the two girls clattered through the doorway.

“You’re back early,” he said, one eyebrow lifting, and then he noticed Marinette behind his sister. His calm half-smile didn’t change, but Juleka saw the faint flush of colour in his thin cheeks and she rolled her eyes at him.

“Hey Marinette,” he said softly, and Marinette blushed back at him. “What are you doing back here? Not that I’m not happy to see you.”

“Alya had another Plan,” Juleka explained, throwing herself backwards onto her bed. “We escaped before it could get out of hand.”

Luka’s eyes fixed on Marinette briefly, and Juleka nodded in silent response.

“So if she comes looking for us, we’re not here.”

Luka’s smile grew a little. “I never saw you.”

Juleka flipped herself to her feet again.

“I’m going to go make hot chocolate,” she announced. She shot her brother a pointed look. “You can keep Marinette company.”

Juleka came back with two mugs of hot chocolate in her hand in time to hear Marinette telling Luka, “It’s just… exhausting.”

There was a tremor in her breath, and it sounded like she was very close to tears as she traced the edge of Luka’s guitar with one finger. Juleka stopped in the doorway. Neither of them noticed her.

“I don’t know that I even like Adrien like that anymore,” Marinette was saying. “I mean, I like him but he’s into Kagami, and he’s only ever seen me as a good friend. Oh, god, some of the things that I’ve done to try and get his attention!”

She buried her face in her hands, missing the sympathetic look Luka gave her. “And it’s … is it supposed to be this painful?”

“I don’t think I’m the best person to give advice on this,” Luka said wryly, and Marinette looked up at him. “I’m not exactly a neutral party here.”

There was a soft inhalation of breath, and Marinette’s eyes grew wider, then- “Is that a bad thing?” she asked softly.

Juleka could swear she heard the synapses exploding as her brother’s brain overloaded.

At that inauspicious moment, Juleka’s phone pinged with an incoming message that sounded obscenely loud, and Marinette and Luka jolted apart. The look that Luka sent his little sister promised murder and worse, but Juleka just rolled her eyes and shoved a mug at him. She handed the second mug to Marinette and pulled her phone out of her pocket, and sighed.

“It’s Rose,” she mumbled, scrolling through the lines of message and unicorn emojis. “Alya’s flipping out and they want to know where we are.”

“Oh no!” Marinette was breathing hard now, the mug forgotten in her hands. “Alya’s going to be so mad at me. I didn’t even tell her I was going, but she wouldn’t have let me leave and-“

Luka put a gentle hand over hers. “Breathe, Mari. It’s okay.”

Marinette sucked in a lungful of air, and inhaled again, letting it out more slowly.

“Alya can’t force you to do anything you don’t want to,” Luka said, and the rest of Marinette’s breath huffed out too quickly.

“You don’t know Alya,” she muttered wryly. “She thinks she’s helping.”

“So do I tell Rose where we are?” Juleka asked, and smiled involuntarily down at the selfie Rose had sent her with a small, fluffy dog she’d met in the park.

“No! Oh god, you can’t tell them I’m here. But Alya will be looking for me, and she’ll go to the bakery, and then my parents will think I’m missing, and they’ll call the police, and then there’ll be a nationwide search, and I’ll be a wanted person and-“

Luka took the mug out of her hands and curled his fingers around hers. She sucked in a breath, counting, and released it.

“I have to get home,” Marinette concluded more calmly.

Juleka hit send – _We’re fine. Sorry we bailed._ Rose would know what that meant, although she would probably think that Juleka was the one with the panic attack. _Mari’s heading home now._

Marinette got to her feet, and when Luka was a little slow to follow Juleka nudged him none too subtly in the arm.

“Don’t you want to walk Mari home?” she hissed at him, and he glared at her.

“Oh, I don’t… you don’t have to… I don’t want to take you out of your way,” Marinette stuttered, and Luka gave her a smile that his sister felt was way too nauseatingly smitten.

“I want to,” he said simply, and turned to follow her onto the deck.

“Hey, dumbass,” Juleka mouthed after him. “You’d better name your first kid after me.”

But she didn’t think he heard; he was too wrapped up in happy pink clouds.


	2. A Scheme on the Seine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to all you lovely readers who left comments on the first chapter, and kudos. I hope you enjoy part two.

**Wingwoman chapter 2: A Scheme on the Seine**

**A Miraculous Ladybug fanfiction**

**By Mintaka14**

“Did Alya say why she wanted a girls’ meeting before the Kitty Section rehearsal?” Juleka asked, tapping her foot on the arm of the couch as she picked at the edges of her purple nail polish. Rose was sprawled on the floor, turning her history essay into a glittery work of art.

“Don’t know,” Rose said absently, then she looked up with a bright smile. “Maybe it’s another Adrienette plan.”

“Does Marinette even like Adrien anymore?” Juleka mumbled at her fingernails, and Rose frowned at her.

“Of course she does! She’s been in love with him forever-“

“A year,” Juleka said under her breath.

“-and they’d be so cute together!”

Juleka thought of her stupid brother, and didn’t say anything.

The noise of Alya’s arrival was hard to miss, and Juleka swung herself upright. The crash as Alya flung open the door made her flinch. Behind the reporter, Alix rolled her eyes and dropped her bag beside the door.

“Hey Juleka,” she said drily, and wandered off to get herself a drink.

“We haven’t got much time,” Alya announced, not waiting for greetings. “Adrien will be here soon, and we need to have our plan in place-“

“Is Marinette coming? Shouldn’t we wait for her?” Rose interrupted.

“She doesn’t know about this,” Alya said. “It’s for her own good. She gets too nervous every time we plan something, so we’re going to set it up to make it easy for her to talk to Adrien this time. Adrien thinks this is just another Kitty Section practice and I got him to promise he’d come, and then we can get them alone together, and this time for sure Marinette will confess.”

Alix rolled her eyes. “Yeah, ‘cause that never goes wrong.”

“We’ve got to do something!” Alya insisted, planting her hands on her hips. “I want Marinette to be happy. I’m going to get my girl her dream guy if it’s the last thing I do.”

“Even if she’s changed her mind?” Juleka nerved herself to ask.

Alya waved that away.

“She’s just getting distracted because she thinks that Adrien is hooking up with Kagami now, but if we can just get Marinette alone with Adrien so she can confess, then he’ll fall in love with Marinette and they can double date with me and Nino and be happy ever after, and she doesn’t have to settle.”

Behind her fringe, Juleka frowned. _Settle?_ That was her brother that Alya was dismissing as a poor second.

Rose tucked her hands under her chin, leaning over the back of her chair to follow Alya’s pacing.

“So what’s the plan?” she asked.

“We keep it really simple,” Alya said decisively. “That way there’s less chance for things to go wrong.”

Alix snorted, and behind her fringe Juleka’s expression echoed the sound. Alya ignored them.

“I’ll keep Mari down here so she doesn’t go wandering off, and then when Adrien gets here you bring him down to the loungeroom.” Alya stabbed a finger at Rose, and Juleka frowned at that. “But don’t give it away that there’s anything going on by getting too excited and blabbing. Then all we have to do is say we need to set up something on the deck, and leave them alone for the magic to happen.”

Alix snorted again. “It’s your funeral. But it’s been a boring week, so I’ll play along.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Alya asked, her hands on her hips.

Alix just shook her head and wandered out the door. The rest of the girls followed her up onto the deck to wait, and Rose bounced over to the boat-rail to keep a lookout.

“Marinette’s here,” Rose squeaked, and Alya hurried over join her. “ _With Adrien_!”

“Yes! It’s wor-“ Alya broke off and scowled as Kagami got out of the car. “What’s she doing here?”

“At a guess, she wants to listen to Kitty Section,” Alix said deadpan. “What have you got against Kagami, anyway?”

“She has no taste in journalism,” Alya said darkly, and Juleka rolled her eyes. So Kagami had said something disparaging about the Ladyblog. That explained a few things. “And she’s snowed Marinette into thinking that they’re friends so that Marinette’ll back out of fighting for Adrien. Marinette’s just too nice for her own good, so I have to do it for her.”

Marinette hopped off the gangplank onto the deck of the _Liberty_ , and then Adrien held out a hand to help Kagami across the narrow boards. Juleka swung back to rest of the group, and Alya’s narrowed eyes were fixed on the point where Adrien still held Kagami’s hand, even though they were safely on the deck now. Juleka was almost surprised that Alya hadn’t left scorch marks.

Rose was looking anxiously from Marinette to Alya.

“What do we do now? Adrien seems really into Kagami,” the blonde whispered.

“Leave it to me,” Alya said in a voice of iron determination. “And get me a drink – juice or something. Something that’ll make a bit of a stain.”

“What are you planning to do?” Rose asked.

“Nothing serious. I’m just going to make it so that Kagami has to spend a bit of time getting cleaned up.”

“I… don’t think Marinette would want you to do that. Isn’t that a bit mean?” Rose said hesitantly, but Alya just waved her off with a flip of her hand.

“Mari doesn’t need to know. It’s all in a good cause, and it’s just a bit of juice. Just get me a cup. I’ll do it myself.”

Juleka sighed deeply and stayed silent. This was going to go badly.

Alix, on the other hand, shrugged and wandered off. She came back with a mug in her hand.

“It’s your funeral,” she said again as she handed it to Alya.

“What are you doing?” Rose hissed, and then Kagami joined them, with Adrien and Marinette on either side.

Alya said brightly, “It’s so good you could all make it,” and her hand started to move.

That was when Juleka lurched into her.

And the juice went everywhere. Marinette gave a startled gasp as it soaked into her blouse and dripped down to puddle on the deck. That… hadn’t quite been part of Juleka’s calculations.

“Oh, no! The boat rolled,” Juleka muttered, righting herself.

The thing about fading into the background and being overlooked was that it turned out you could get away with a lot. No one even suggested that they didn’t feel a thing, or that Juleka was strangely unsteady for someone who had grown up on a boat. Juleka wasn’t sure if she should be pleased or annoyed that Alya obviously didn’t even consider that Juleka might have done it deliberately.

It made more of a mess than she’d anticipated, though. Juleka shrank a little as the juice dripped down Marinette’s top. Everyone fussed, and a perfectly dry Kagami whipped out a pristine white handkerchief, dabbing at Marinette’s stain as it spread further.

“Oh, god, I’m so sorry,” Juleka cringed, but Marinette gave her a tiny smile.

“It’s okay, it’s just juice.” She held her top away from her soaked chest. “But I’d probably better head home.”

“You can borrow a clean shirt,” Juleka offered.

While Juleka burrowed through the piles of mostly clean clothes, Marinette stripped off her soaked blouse and towelled dry.

Juleka hesitated, her hand on a faded Jagged Stone shirt that had seen better days. But it was clean, even if it was going to be huge on Marinette, and she tossed it to the other girl before she could overthink things. Marinette caught it and started to tug it over her head.

“I’m really sorry,” Juleka repeated.

“Accidents happen.” Marinette’s voice was muffled by the shirt, then she yanked it down and she was swamped by the Jagged Stone artwork on the front. “I’m just glad this one happened to me and not to Kagami. She and Adrien aren’t supposed to be here in the first place, and if she went home covered in juice or wearing someone else’s clothes it’d be weeks before her mother would let her out again.”

Juleka flinched guiltily.

“Chloe had this plan once to get Kagami to sit on some cake so that she couldn’t spend time with Adrien,” Marinette was saying, her attention on the hem of the t-shirt as she fiddled with it. “And I almost did it.”

“But you didn’t, did you?” Juleka said. She was starting to wonder if Marinette had figured out what had been behind that accidental spill.

“But I almost did. I went along with _Chloe_ because I was so caught up in another plot to get Adrien’s attention.” Marinette lifted her head, and her blue eyes met Juleka’s with an odd resolution. “I don’t like a lot of the things I’ve done because I was crushing on Adrien. I don’t like _me_ when I’m chasing Adrien.”

Juleka hesitated, opening her mouth to speak just as they heard someone clattering down the ladder into the galley. Luka swung around the edge of the door.

“Jules, have you seen-“ Juleka knew the moment that he spotted Marinette in his favourite Jagged Stone t-shirt that was just a bit too long for the shorts she was wearing, because that was when he broke off what he’d been saying with a noise that sounded like he’d swallowed his own tongue.

While her lame brother and Marinette were trying to recover their powers of speech, or stop blushing, Juleka mumbled something and bundled up Marinette’s wet blouse, hustling it out the door before they could stop her. If she had anything to say about it, it would be a while before Marinette’s top was dry enough to be worn home.

She leaned her back against the closed door, listening to the soft murmur of voices start up in the room behind her, and she allowed herself a small smile behind the fall of her hair.

Things were going well.


	3. A Conspiracy in the Kitchen

**Wingwoman chapter 3: A Conspiracy in the Kitchen**

**A Miraculous Ladybug fanfiction**

**By Mintaka14**

It turned out that Juleka had a taste for sabotage, but then, she was her mother’s daughter.

Messages went astray. Times got mixed up. Plans got changed. And Juleka tucked her phone back into her bag and stayed silent behind her curtain of hair.

If her brother noticed that his sister was texting him to pick her up a lot more often, and that she’d just happen to be with Marinette when he arrived, or that he’d get there only for Juleka to realise that she suddenly needed to do something somewhere else and abandon them together, he didn’t say anything. And Marinette never seemed to mind. Sometimes it took a lot of throat-clearing on Juleka’s part before they even realised that she was back.

Alya, however, was getting more and more frustrated by the mysterious whims of fate that kept foiling her plans to bring Adrien and Marinette together.

The crisis point came on the day that Adrien asked Nino if he and Alya wanted to go to the movies with Adrien and Kagami. The way Alya’s eyes narrowed and her mouth pinched suggested that she wasn’t happy with this, but Adrien didn’t notice.

Alya and Nino also didn’t notice that Juleka was still there in the classroom after everyone else had left and Alya rounded on Nino, one finger stabbing fiercely at his chest.

“We are _not_ double dating with Adrien and Kagami,” she insisted as Nino backed up a step. “I’m not doing that to Marinette, and if Adrien can’t see for himself who he’s supposed to be with then we need to set him straight now before things get out of hand. Drastic times, drastic measures.”

Juleka stayed silent, frozen in the middle of putting her books back in her schoolbag.

“What do you have in mind?” Nino asked uneasily.

“I’m thinking it’s time we shut them up in a cupboard together until they work things out.” Alya must have finally noticed Nino’s expression, because she folded her arms and fixed him with a determined look. “It worked for us, didn’t it?”

“But-“

“Ooh! Better yet, you tell Adrien we’re going over to the bakery for a cooking lesson. I’ll tell Marinette we’re all coming round this afternoon – she won’t say no – and there’s that cool-room there. They can keep each other warm until either Marinette works up the nerve to confess to Adrien, or he realises what he’s missing out on.”

“But isn’t that-“

“It’s perfect!” Alya must have finally registered Nino’s doubt, because she flashed him a reassuring smile. “Look, we’ll be right there. It’s not like anyone’s going to get hurt, and if it finally gets her together with Adrien then Marinette won’t mind. It’s all in a good cause.”

She gave Nino a quick kiss and shooed him towards the door. “You get Adrien, I’ll grab Marinette. Go!”

By the time Juleka had gathered her books and her nerve, Alya and Nino were already out of sight. She was still in the doorway, trying to work out what to do, when her art teacher hailed her cheerfully, and Juleka was stuck, shifting awkwardly from foot to foot while her teacher chatted about her latest assignment.

The corridor was emptying of students, and her teacher was still talking.

_Just say it_ , Juleka scolded herself silently. _Just tell him I have to go_. But the words kept catching, and fading away in a mumble that her teacher must have taken for interest, until finally Mr Duchamp dismissed her with a wave and strode away to the staffroom.

Juleka bolted before anyone else could stop her.

Outside the school, Luka was leaning against the lamppost at the foot of the stairs, his black-nailed fingers drumming idly on his thigh, and Juleka clumped rapidly down the stairs towards him with a sigh of relief. She swung her bag at him.

“Hey, loser,” she muttered, and he gave her that half-smile of his.

“What’s up, goth girl?”

“You’ll love this,” Juleka told him drily. “Alya’s latest plan to get Marinette and Adrien together is to lock them in together until they figure something out. Or kiss. Alya wants them to kiss.”

Luka was frowning.

“But I saw them all heading for the bakery a little while ago,” he said slowly.

“Yup. Alya suggested that they have a baking lesson or something, and then she’s going to shut them both in the cool-room. So they’ve got their love to keep them warm, or something like that,” Juleka said disdainfully.

“Wait, what?” Luka cut her off, pushing himself upright abruptly. “What … how … What kind of a friend would _do_ that?”

Juleka shrugged. “The kind who thinks she knows better than everyone else, and that all Marinette needs is enough of a push.”

But Luka was already running, dodging cars, towards the bakery.

“You’re welcome!” Juleka called after him. She shouldered her bag and followed at a more leisurely pace, now that Luka was dealing with it. Mrs Cheng – _call me Sabine, dear_ – gave her a distracted wave and a quick “Are you here for the baking lesson?” before she turned back to the line of customers. There was no sign of Marinette’s father when she pushed through the door into the bakery kitchen, but Juleka got there just in time to see Luka shove Alya out of the way.

“What the hell, Couffaine?!” Alya snapped.

But he already had the cooler door open. Marinette stumbled out and into Luka’s arms, shivering, as if she’d been leaning against the door when it opened. Over Marinette’s shoulder, Juleka could see Adrien’s bewildered face, but Marinette’s expression when she turned it on Alya could have stripped paint. Luka hadn’t let go of Marinette yet, and his eyes were pure ice.

Juleka leaned back against the wall and folded her arms. This was going to be fun. If Luka or Marinette had been looking at Juleka like that, she would have been running by now, but Alya clearly had no sense of self-preservation.

Luka looked down at the girl in his arms, and the ice in his eyes melted a little.

“Are you okay, Marinette?” he asked gently, and the eyes Marinette gave him were pure Disney princess. She didn’t even look around when Adrien climbed out of the cool-room with a confused frown on his pretty face. Luka was rubbing her arms gently to warm them, and Marinette definitely didn’t seem to mind.

“How about you, Adrien?” Luka finally remembered to ask, and spared the boy a quick glance.

Adrien was still frowning, his eyes shifting from Alya to Marinette and back again.

“Was that on purpose?” he asked Alya. Anger looked strange on the sunshine boy’s face, but Juleka had to assume that that was what it was. “Not funny, Alya. Marinette was really upset.”

His arm went around Marinette’s shoulder, and Juleka’s eyes narrowed as the girl was sandwiched between her brother and Adrien. _Oh, hell, no_.

“Your driver’s here,” she announced, and everyone jolted at the unexpectedly loud interruption. “You’d probably better go and check. I think he was double-parked.”

Luka was still focused on Marinette as the model reluctantly headed out the door.

“Why don’t you head upstairs and get warm? I’ll come up and we can hang out for a while, if that’s okay?” Luka suggested.

The tiny smile that Marinette gave him suggested that that was more than okay, but when Alya reached out and touched her arm, Marinette pulled away and her face darkened to a scowl.

“Oh, come on,” Alya tried. “It was just a harmless prank. You weren’t even in there that long.”

“I’m not talking to you right now,” Marinette growled, and Juleka found herself grinning behind her curtain of hair at the confounded look on Alya’s face. Marinette shoved the door open with unnecessary force and marched out of the kitchen, and Luka turned his attention back on Alya, sparing a scathing look for the rest of the group gathered around the cool-room door. Nino was looking shamefaced.

“Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?” Luka asked the reporter in a voice of arctic calm.

Alya crossed her arms and glared at him. “Nothing was going to happen. It was just a harmless joke.”

“I knew you were trying to get Marinette and Adrien together, but I didn’t think someone who’s supposed to be her friend would go this far. Have you even asked her if this is what she wants anymore?”

“Oh, and you’re such an expert on what Mari wants? I think you’re a bit biased here, _Luka_.”

Anything that Luka might have said was cut off when Marinette’s father filled the doorway and came into the kitchen.

“Well, hello everyone!” he boomed.

Tom Dupain’s jovial smile faded as he took in Alya’s aggressive stance and Luka’s cool stare.

“What’s going on? Where’s Marinette?”

Luka didn’t say anything. Those frozen eyes of his were fixed accusingly on Alya, and it was the reporter who looked away first.

“She’s fine, Mr Dupain… Tom,” Alya said to the corner of the baker’s bench. “She’s upstairs. She and Adrien might have sort of… got shut in the cool-room for a while.”

Tom’s large, friendly features slowly shifted as though a thunderstorm had passed over them.

“She what? What happened?”

And still Luka stared uncompromisingly at Alya. Juleka shifted uncomfortably, and wondered if anyone would notice if she made a break for the door.

“I don’t know what you’ve all been up to,” Tom rumbled, still frowning, “but I think it’s time you all went home.”

They all fled. It was only when she had reached the Liberty that Juleka realised that there was no sign of her brother. There was no sign of him at dinnertime, and it was full dark before he swung down the stairs and flopped onto the couch beside her, a stupid grin on his face.

“How’s Marinette?” Juleka asked innocently, and he threw a cushion at her, but his grin grew wider. “Are you still planning to murder Alya in cold blood?”

His grin became more of a grimace.

“I haven’t ruled it out,” he said drily.

“Well, let me know when you make up your mind, so I can have your alibi ready.”

Juleka slumped back down into the couch and hugged the cushion.

“You’re all idiots,” she decided.

Juleka was on the deck of the _Liberty_ when Alya made her way across the gangplank the next afternoon with Rose and Alix and Mylene close behind.

“Is Marinette here?” Alya asked, her expression an odd mix of shamefaced belligerence. “She’s been avoiding me all day and I really need to talk to her. Rose said she was coming here.”

She tried to go around Juleka, heading towards the bedroom below deck, but the taller girl didn’t move.

“Yeah, I don’t think you should go in there.”

Juleka wasn’t the only one who heard the breathy giggle, or the masculine voice saying something that was too low to make out through the closed door over the muted sound of guitar music.

“Luka!” Marinette’s voice was clear, followed by a soft gasp as the guitar broke off with a twang.

Alya’s eyes opened wide at the sound of Marinette’s voice, and the faint noises that followed. Rose had two hands clapped over her mouth, and Juleka could feel her practically vibrating with excitement. Juleka almost shoved the growing crowd of girls back towards the deck.

“Your plan worked. Just not in the way you thought,” she muttered with a certain amount of smug satisfaction at the stunned look on Alya’s face. Alya’s eyes narrowed.

“Did you know this was going on?” the reporter probed.

Juleka raised an eyebrow. “You didn’t?”

Brushing back her bangs, Juleka allowed herself to smile. She was really enjoying herself in this moment. It wasn’t often that anyone got to see Alya thrown completely off balance. And her stupid brother owed her. Big time. If he and Marinette were disgustingly happy together, that was just an added bonus. Not that she cared.

When Marinette eventually made her way onto the deck, looking more than a little dishevelled, she found herself the object of intense scrutiny and she blushed.

“Girl,” Alya growled. “Spill. You’re seeing Luka and you didn’t tell me?”

Marinette’s dazed look dissolved into exasperation, and she said, “I tried to tell you I wasn’t interested in Adrien anymore, but you didn’t want to listen. I’ve tried to talk to you about a lot of things.”

That seemed to hit home, and Alya flushed.

“Hey, you know I’m on board for whoever you want, Mari. I just want my bestie to be happy,” Alya conceded, and gave her a rueful, affectionate grin. “And I’m really happy for you. But I am not double dating with Kagami, I can tell you that right now.”

“Who knows? You might enjoy yourself. Kagami’s really sweet when you get to know her.” Juleka saw the flash in Marinette’s blue eyes as she threw Alya a look from under her dark lashes. “But if you don’t, I’m not going to make you be friends. I can’t force that.”

Juleka suppressed the snort. It looked like Alya had missed that dig, and that was probably the closest Marinette would come to being bitchy about Alya’s role in the situation with Lila. The snort became a grimace as Alya nudged Marinette’s shoulder and raised her eyebrows.

“So, is Luka a good kisser?” the reporter teased. “It sounded like he’s a good kisser.”

“Oh, gross!” Juleka complained, loud enough to be heard. “That’s my brother you’re talking about.”

Marinette was turning beet red.

“What’s that tongue piercing feel like?” Alya asked slyly.

“Argh!” Juleka clapped her hands over her ears

“I think it’s cute,” Rose chimed in. “And you look so happy, Mari.”

Alya’s phone beeped a message at her, and the reporter glanced at it with a sigh.

“I’ve got to go if I’m going to make it home in time. Do you want to come too, Mari? I owe you ice cream, and you can give me all the deets,” she suggested, but Marinette shook her head.

“Luka and I are going to watch a movie together.”

Alya grinned at that, but Juleka rolled her eyes as the rest of the girls made their way off the boat.

“So now I’ve got to watch you two making out all night,” she muttered good-humouredly under her breath, but Marinette heard her and flashed her a wide-eyed look of panic.

“We won’t… I wouldn’t…” she stumbled. “I mean, we don’t have to stay here if it makes you uncomfortable. Oh, god! And he’s your brother but what if it makes it all weird and you can’t be friends with me because I’m kissing your brother, then you’ll hate me forever and Luka will break up with me and I’ll never see Luka again-“

“It’s fine,” Juleka cut her off nonchalantly. “I didn’t go to all that effort to get you two together just to break you up, no matter how sappy it gets. And Luka’s so into you, it’s sickening.”

She gently steered Marinette towards a box and got her to sit before the girl fell over.

“Tell him I said this and I will end you, but… it’s kind of nice to see the dumbass looking so happy.”

I’m Luka’s girlfriend,” Marinette said as reality sank in, and the grin she gave was as dopey as anything Juleka’s brother had ever given.

Juleka sighed and rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, I figured. Just remember I don’t do pink,” she muttered, and Marinette gave her a confused look.

“What?”

“When you marry my stupid brother. I’m not going to wear a pink bridesmaid’s dress, not even for you,” said the perfect wingwoman, while Marinette’s face turned every shade of red.

But she didn’t deny it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so very, very much to everyone who's left comments and kudos. I hope you've enjoyed this as much as Juleka enjoyed thwarting Alya's plans. I do love writing the Couffaine siblings. And please let me know what you think.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm a sucker for the Couffaines, and I loved the idea that maybe Juleka wouldn't be quite so committed to Adrienette as the rest of the Girl Squad once Lukanette was a possibility. She loves her brother and wants him to be happy, even if the dumbass drives her crazy. Please let me know what you thought - all constructive comments are gratefully accepted.


End file.
